


Wait For Me (I'm Coming Too)

by willowcat33



Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: Afterlife, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Crying, Gun Violence, Guns, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Kissing, Multi, Murder, Reunions, Spoilers for S4, Stabbing, Swords, don't worry my fellow rat people i have another planned, fucking first fic for it in this fandom-, i am now the specialist in the ship, like all of it, like i finished it at half three in the morning dear god-, one true poly, this ship is my fucking otp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-10-01 17:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20349643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willowcat33/pseuds/willowcat33
Summary: When the prospect of a revival comes up, and Tana's name is tossed around, he can't say he's not hopeful. He can't have them all back, he knows, but maybe, just maybe, he won't be alone anymore?And then Colleen shows up, and he forces a smile onto his face. He's happy for her, truly, he is. Yet, as selfish as it is, he still wishes it could have been Tana. Or Gabbie. Or DeStorm. Really any of them, he's just so tired of being alone, yet again.~Or, Alex went through a lot this season, so I put him througheven more.





	Wait For Me (I'm Coming Too)

**Author's Note:**

> title from "Wait For Me" from the musical Hadestown, because if there's one thing this fic needs its mOre emotions (not).  
buckle in kids we'RE GOING FOR A RIDE-

Tana screams as the Dark Night runs his sword through her, the air getting stolen from her lungs as she falls back and smacks into the ground. She gasps as Gabbie _ screams _for Tana, her and Alex's shouting rising above the cacophony of chaos that rings through her ears.

_ At least...Gabbie should be safe now… and I'll see DeStorm again, _she thinks, woozily. Another scream rings out like a shot in the dark, but Tana's eyes are already fluttering shut, as the darkness welcomes her tired heart.

-

Gabbie watches as Tana goes down, shock and panic running through her system as she screams out her girlfriend's name. Shock has turned her bones to lead, and she doesn't register Alex's devastated yelling - _ "Gabbie, run! Run! No- NO!” _\- until it's too late, and there's a sword in her stomach.

She hears Alex shouting desperately, grief shattering his heart and his voice, and as a soft gasp leaves her lips, the only thought that crosses her mind is of him.

_ I'm sorry, baby. _

She's dead before she hits the ground.

-

Alex is an absolute _wreck. _In the span of _two_ _hours _he's lost _all three_ of his partners. His heart is fracturing and he wants nothing more than to curl up and cry.

He tries to not focus on their final moments - _ DeStorm's blank eyes that they didn't even have time to shut they just _ left _ him there, Tana's screams of agony and Gabbie's frozen panic, all while he stood and watched - _ and instead trying to focus on happier memories - _ dinner dates, sitting on the sofa holding DeStorm's hand with one of Gabbie's arms ‘round his shoulders whilst Tana lays across there laps, critiquing the film "because it's fun!", merrily celebrated birthdays - _from before they'd gone to that damn ball and wound up dead. 

But his heart still hurts, it hurts like _ hell. _ He's _ never _going to see them again, unless he dies, but they would want him to fight on and get home.

He failed to save them. So he promises himself he won't fail them again.

-

When the prospect of a revival comes up, and Tana's name is tossed around, he can't say he's not hopeful. He can't have them _ all _back, he knows, but maybe, just maybe, he won't be alone anymore?

And then Colleen shows up, and he forces a smile onto his face. He's happy for her, truly, he is. Yet, as selfish as it is, he still wishes it could have been Tana. Or Gabbie. Or DeStorm. Really any of them, he's just so tired of being alone, yet again.

He lost them one by one at that cursed masquerade ball as well - always been the last one standing. _ Esteemed guests, _ his mind snarks, _ introducing Alexander Burriss, the man who stood idly by whilst his lovers died! But wait, there's more! He did it _twice!

God, he is _ so _ tired. He wants to go home- except he also _ doesn't _ , _ can't _ face an empty house without his partners by his side. And anyway, home to him was never really a place, it was more people. Tana and Gabbie and DeStorm were, hell, _ are, _his home.

So, technically, he _ can't _ ever go home, at least alive.

-

When Joey paddles away with that Jolly Roger, he knows he's done for. Strangely, he's at peace with it- of course, he's still slightly frightened.

_ Is this how DeStorm felt? Before he sacrificed himself for us? _

Alex pushes the grief away, and steps onto the jetty with his head held high. He takes off his jacket, folding it gently and setting it in the wooden planks of the site of his impending murder.

Rorik sneers, pulling his pistol out of its holster. He spins it on his fingers - _ Roi would have thought that was so cool, will he see Roi again once he dies? - _and takes aim. "Give my regards to the devil," he snarls.

Alex shuts his eyes as Joey mutters, distressed. A peaceful smile grows on his face.

_ BANG. BANG. _

Two shots in quick succession- Alex feels the bursts of pain in his chests, feels himself topple backwards off of the jetty. But he never feels the impact.

He's dead before he hits the water. The hug of death is almost comforting - it takes the grief and the pain from him, leaves him with the peace and quiet of silence.

-

Around two hours earlier, DeStorm sits alone, skimming stones across the surface of the ethereal lake. Tim had offered to walk with him, even though DeStorm had doomed him, but he declined. Said he wanted some peace, time to think.

Wasn't _ exactly _a lie, he did, but he also wanted to stay near the place where new souls come in, in case any of his partners show up.

In a weird way, he hopes he'll never see them again, so that they live on and go home and get to be _ alive _once more.

He's jolted out of his thoughts by the sound of not one, but _ two _ bodies hitting the dirt. By the sounds of it, one stuck the landing, but the first one has landed on their ass, evidenced by the way they're laughing and _ oh my god it's Tana and Gabbie. _

For some reason, neither of them seem overly surprised that they're _ both _ dead, but that's irrelevant. What _ matters _ is that they're _ here _with him again.

DeStorm stands up, setting down his pebble and stares at them, utterly dumbfounded. His gaze flits from their faces to their matching flowers indicating their fatal wounds - blood red ones, blooming from their abdomen - and back up to their faces.

Gabbie is the first to notice him, her expression contorting into one of shock and fury and joy and _ love _ all at the same time. And then, tears in her eyes - _ wait,is she _ crying?! _ why is she crying? - _she runs at DeStorm, straight into his open arms.

"You _ idiot!' _ she sobs against his chest, clutching him like he'll disappear if she lets go. "The _ hell _ were you _ thinking?!" _

He assumes she's talking about when he sacrificed himself - _ his last moments are still fresh in his mind, the confusion on Alex's face quickly turning to panicked realisation as he'd looked him in the eyes and said, "This is for you and our girls, punk.", Gabbie's desperate scream for the Emperor to not do this, to stop, _ please, _ a blade in his torso, and then silence. _

"Im sorry, doll, but I couldn't stand by whilst Alex died-"

_ "I had to watch!' _she cries, pulling back to look him in the eyes, still clutching his hands like a lifeline.

"I am so, _ so _sorry you had to watch. But I couldn't stand by and let him die." She seems to accept this more or less, and steps to the side (still holding one of his hands) to let Tana through. She looks at him with concern and fresh emotion glistening in her eyes.

Ever so gently, she brushes a thumb through the petals on his torso, and he shivers at the weird sensation.

"Ha. We match." She says, voice trembling, and the next thing any of them know, she's head-in-hands sobbing, and both DeStorm and Gabbie put a comforting arm around her, trying to soothe their girlfriend.

"I just- wish- I want us to go _ home," _she almost wails, voice cracked by emotion.

"I know, baby, I do too, but we can't so we gotta just- get used to this place, okay, love?' Gabbie says, expression softened with concern.

"O-okay" she says, wiping the tears from her eyes, putting on a determined face.

In the afterlife, the next couple of hours pass pretty uneventfully - the three sit and chat, Gabbie and Tana filling DeStorm in on what he'd missed.

Colleen comes, half of her face and almost all of her neck covered in flowers, all deep bloody reds, and goes again, presumably revived. Apart from that, (after)life is peaceful, a welcome break from the living hell that was purgatory.

-

Alex lands on his feet in the afterlife, eyes still squeezed shut. _ That's odd, _ he remarks internally, _ I expected to be in hell, but hell wouldn't smell like moonlight and fresh flowers. _

Then he hears an oddly familiar gasp, and gently opens his eyes, wincing for a second as be adjusts to the light.

And then _ he _ gasps, a tiny sound of delight, as, standing no more than a stone's throw away, are all _ three _of his partners.

"Guys…" he chokes out, relief at not spending eternity alone flooding his system.

Next thing he knows, DeStorm is running to him, wrapping his arms around him like one would clasp a flotation device when the Titanic went down - like it's the only thing that matters in the world, for that moment at least.

Alex stares adoringly at him, and tugs him closer by the collar of the shirt for a kiss_ \- and by God, he'd missed this. Missed the feeling of DeStorm's chapped lips on his own, softer, ones, missed it in the same way a diver misses oxygen. _

As DeStorm kisses back, his hands go to Alex's hair, gently tugging in an attempt to bring him impossibly closer, and he never wants to let him go again.

When they break apart, the beginnings of a slight blush dance across both of their cheekbones, like moonbeams over the surface of the ethereal lake nearby.

"Hey, tall ass, maybe let the rest of us say hello?" Gabbie teases, and DeStorm flushes slightly deeper, stepping to the side yet staying close.

"Hey there, baby," Gabbie says, staring into his eyes with love dancing like 10,000 fireflies in her own. She hugs him tight, before demanding that soon he tells them what idiotic thing he did to get himself killed this time. Alex laughs, and promises that he will. Gabbie seems satisfied with this answer, and steps to the side, to let Tana, who'd been waiting (im)patiently for her turn, bouncing on her heels, to surge forward and hold him tight.

Tana presses a kiss to one of his cheeks, hand cupping the other as he flushes redder than the lipstick stain she'd left.

"I promise I'll tell you all what happened soon, but for now-" he glances down at the flowers on his chest. "I think I need to sit down for a bit." he pauses for a bit, then adds "And if I could get a cuddle that would also be ideal."

"Oh, that can _ definitely _be arranged!" Gabbie laughs, taking his hand, and the four of them wander back to the rock.

And all Alex knows is that he's come _ home, _ and he's _ not _leaving.

**Author's Note:**

> *fortnite dances into hell*
> 
> hope you enjoyed that! or felt,, emotions(tm)  
if you did, please leave a comment! they make my day! kudoses are also appreciated
> 
> \- T xox


End file.
